3.18.2005

The Animation Show Opens Today

As mentioned before, The Animation Show is opening up today in Atlanta, at the Midtown Art Cinemas. It will be screening for one week only, from March 18th until the 24th. This is the brainchild of Mike Judge (Beavis & Butthead, Office Space) and Don Hertzfeldt (Billy's Balloon, Rejected), and is currently on its second year. Last year's Show was a great mix of animated goodness, with Ward Kimball's MARS AND BEYOND (from 1957) thrown in for good measure. This year, the lineup looks to be a strong one, with Bill Plympton's Oscar-nominated GUARD DOG, the fantastic WARD 13, and Hertzfeldt's newest film, THE MEANING OF LIFE, among others, to be featured. It may be tough to beat last year's Show, but you'll definitely still find me in line for this year's edition. And can I say how much I love the poster? Tim Biskup's work is worth the second mention. Hope to see you guys there at the Show!

Ooh, that'd be "James and the Giant Peach," by Roald Dahl. Lane Smith did some great fantastic character designs for the stop-motion animated version that came out in the mid-90's, directed by Henry Selick. Great story, too.

I saw the show on Friday; I think my jaw was unhinged throughout the whole thing. ("Fallen Art" in particular gave me a shock I couldn't shake off for a few minutes). All in all, the show was grotesque, twisted, and incredibly entertaining. The only complaint I have is that no one else in the theater seemed to be an animation fan; after every short there was a flurry of half-hushed "bizarre!"s and "I don't get it"s. Irritating, but at least the theater was full. Hopefully, shows like this will get wider distribution in the future.